While the All Blacks take a well earned week off the Japies look to complete their Tri-Nations tour with a honour restoring win.  While NZ fans might think this game is of little interest it will tell us a lot about the resolve of the Boks & the state of the Convicts.

With the Tri-Nations in full swing the Ranfurly Shield campaign of Southland probably needed as much publicity as it could get.  But what it didn't need was old Big Mouth himself (Michael Laws) labelling Southland a bunch of poofs.  I'd like to see him say that in a Bluff local.

Thank goodness the NZRU has seen the light & re-introduced TV replays to help the refs in the NPC.  Last year's competition was marred by some poor decisions regarding tries as the poor refs had no TV assistance.  Particularly notable was the decision to disallow a try to Hawkes Bay prop Taumalolo as he crashed over in the corner against Canterbury.
 
The decision to take away the use of TV last year was very Sepp Blatter like & we don't want to go down that path!

Two in a row & there can be little doubt that the All Blacks have moved up a cog this year (and the Boks may have slipped one).  It was always going to be a big challenge to reproduce the performance from Eden Park and while they didn't reach those heights again it was still a significant performance.
 
But they were once again aided by Springbok indiscipline.  While the Rossouw sin binning appeared very harsh it was also a totally unnecessary act.  Why do the Boks commit such blatant acts at the start of games?

At the risk of sounding repetitive & boring I see no reason to change from the selections I took last week though the South Africans getting a 8.5 point start is very tempting.
 
I expect a tighter encounter and the probability of wet weather leads me once gain to the All Blacks to win by a margin of 12 & under at $2-60 & the Springboks to win by a margin of 12 & under at a very healthy $4-75.  Obviously the second option covers the emotional hedge.

The All Blacks have made two changes to their starting lineup for the 2nd test against the Boks.  One was enforced with Rene Ranger replacing the injured Rocket Man while the other is a slight surprise with Piri Weepu starting in front of Jimmy Cowan who is riding the pine this week.
 
The other change to the 22 man squad sees the magical Israel Dagg take the place of the often injured Richard Kahui.

Amongst all the publicity of SBW's decision to play for Canterbury in the NPC, the return to NZ of an All Black legend he is likely oppose at some stage this season is probably more noteworthy.
 
Last night Tana Umaga made his Counties debut in the inauspicious setting of a club ground in West Auckland.

The Springboks have resisted the temptation to wield the axe following their terrible performance in the 1st test and have made only two enforced changes - Danie Rossouw for Bakkies & CJ van der Linde for the injured Janie du Plessis.  Only one change to the bench with Kankowski coming in to take Rossouw's place.
 
It's been interesting to see the Boks' reaction this week to their 20 point drubbing.  They seem to be taking the attitude that they just didn't front mentally & have the chance to put it right this weekend.  There has been no real excuses or complaining.

Interesting article from Taine Randell last week about the Cantabrification of New Zealand rugby.  There is an old saying "When Auckland rugby is strong New Zealand rugby is strong" which is logical given that a third of NZ's population resides there.  However given the relative performance of Auckland & the Blues in the past 10 years compared to the All Blacks this link is now less certain.
 
What is disturbing as Randell points out is that the Crusaders success in Super 12 / 14 rugby has led to people associated with that success taking control of NZ rugby.

Well what can you say - it is difficult to remember a more complete All Blacks performance against South Africa for some time.  I rank it right along side the triumph against France in Marseille last year.
 
Probably the most notable aspect for me was the hunger & desire of the All Blacks right across the park & the fact they didn't let up for the full 80 minutes.  Maybe Bakkies tete-a-tete with Jimmy Cowan after 90 seconds added some fire to the belly but the All Blacks were up for this test & it showed.  Not for the first time they raised their game at Eden Park where they do seem to lift to another level.